One of Ghana’s leading cartoonist, known by the penname Tilapia has been arrested by the police under a bizarre circumstance.
Tilapia, who works with Media General (TV3) and is known for his award-winning satiric contents mostly depicting political actors and other social ills, was arrested by the Dansonman police on Tuesday, April 11, 2023.
At the time of filing this report, Newstibits.com is reliably informed that the cartoonist has been detained together with his brother-in-law at the Dansoman District Police Headquarters in Accra.
Our preliminary investigations have revealed that Tilapia was arrested for obtaining a copy of an autopsy report of a man whose controversial death is currently before a competent court of law without ostensibly informing the police.
A close associate of Tilapia who confirmed the arrest to Newstitbits.com said the two were handcuffed and threw behind the counter in the morning after responding to a police invitation.
According to our source, the Dansoman District Crime Officer who allegedly gave the orders for the two be detained was furious that Tilapia and his brother-in-law were able to obtain a copy of the autopsy report when they the police were yet to get a copy.
Briefly recounting what actually let to the arrest and detention of Tilapia, the source noted that early this year, a female family friend had altercation with a man who is now deceased in which the woman used a mob stick to hit the man.
Months later, the man got sick and died. The man’s family then made a formal complaint to the police alleging that their relative died because of the assault.
The Dansoman police subsequently arrested the 47-year-old lady on March 4, 2023.
The police detained her for almost three weeks in clear breach of the 48 hours the police are allowed by law to detain a suspect.
When pressure was brought on the police they then took the lady to court on March 22, 2023.
The court granted her bail and adjourned the case to April 27.
Since the autopsy report is going to be a determining factor in ascertaining whether the man died because he was hit with the mob stick or from other cause, Tilapia and the family decided to secure a copy of the autopsy report.
This action of the family is what angered the police who then invited Tilapia and his in-law only to be arrested and detained by the Dansoman Police on April 11.
The police have not officially charged them yet.